Uruguay are in for plenty of trouble, insists Siphiwe Tshabalala

That's the way to do it: Siphiwe Tshabalala got South Africa off to a good start at the World Cup when scoring the opening goal of the tournament for the hosts

Siphiwe Tshabalala is confident South Africa will beat Uruguay tonight and take a giant step towards qualifying for the last-16.

The winger scored the tournament's opening goal in Friday's 1-1 draw with Mexico and Uruguay's subsequent goalless draw with France left the hosts top of Group A.

South Africa have never been beyond the group stage in two previous attempts but Tshabalala believes the team are showing the kind of form that will cause problems for the South Americans in Pretoria.

"A win against Uruguay will virtually seal our passage into the second round and make the nation even prouder," said Tshabalala.

"Uruguay will be in trouble if we carry on where we left off against the Mexicans. My form has improved so much since the coach returned last November and took us to Brazil and Germany for training camps. My fitness has never been greater, nor my self-belief."

The hosts were backed by a fervent crowd in their opening match but captain Aaron Mokoena believes that they will need even more support to beat a talented Uruguay side.

"We would like the fans to get behind us more," said the Portsmouth midfielder. "They've been behind us but it would be great to have that support. It's a game where we really need them behind us.

"Uruguay are a very experienced side who defend very well. They have two fantastic forwards. We all know Diego Forlan, who is full of confidence. We have done our homework on them and we've analysed their strong points.

"They are a very experienced side and we are looking forward to the game."

Uruguay captain Diego Lugano warned the hosts his team will go on the attack having learned the lessons from their opener against Les Blues. "It's going to be a great match with a fantastic atmosphere," he said.

"We are going to give our best and try to make Uruguay very happy.

"We know today is going to be very different - perhaps we need to be more aggressive in attack to assure ourselves of the three points."

The tournament has been overshadowed to an extent by criticisms of the vuvuzelas and the Jabulani ball but South Africa coach Carlos Parreira played down any controversy.

He said: "We love both. We love the vuvuzelas, it's part of our culture."